Mansour lamented the civilian casualties, saying Israel "increased its operations with full knowledge that civilians will suffer."

He then called on the Security Council to adopt a resolution "that condemns the Israeli military aggression against the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip, calls for its immediate cessation, calls for the lifting of the Israeli blockade on Gaza Strip, and calls for protection of the Palestinian people since Israel, the occupying power, has clearly forfeited its legal obligations to do so."

He ended his statement with a plea for global organizations "to provide emergency humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza in order to alleviate their grave suffering and devastation they are enduring."

"For 10 days, the life of 5 million Israelis has meant having just seconds to run to a bomb shelter to save their lives," he said, according to the Guardian live blog. "Our largest cities are being bombarded on a daily basis. There is no country in the world that would tolerate such an assault on its cities."

Prosor objected to Israel being called an occupying force. "Occupation? Does nobody remember anything? In 2005, after Israel withdrew from Gaza, there was not a solider, not a settler and not a single Israeli left. We left infrastructure behind to allow Gaza to succeed. We wanted it to serve as a model for two societies to live side by side in peace. But it didn't."

#Israel's @UN Amb. Prosor: “Our forces are in Gaza but to be clear, our forces are not fighting the people OF #Gaza.”

Prosor then called on the international community to stand for "good against evil, stand for right against wrong, and stand with Israel."

2:25 p.m. ET: Despite Israel's ground offensive, Hamas has not stopped firing rockets from Gaza toward Israeli cities. On Friday afternoon, several explosions were reported over Tel Aviv, where some rockets were intercepted by the air-defense system called Iron Dome.

From a rooftop in Jaffa we just saw between 5-6 missile interceptions. Three above Tel Aviv and 2-3 to the East heading towards Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, the number of refugees in shelters has swollen to more than 40,000, according to Chris Gunness, the spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Earlier

Israeli troops moved deeper into the Gaza strip on Friday, looking for smuggling tunnels, weapons and rocket launching sites, hours after launching a sweeping ground offensive, the first in over five years.

After a night of fighting, Gaza health officials say that at least 20 Palestinians have been killed so far, while the Israeli Defense Forces reported one soldier dead in the offensive. The circumstances surrounding the soldier's death were unclear, but friendly fire was reported as a possible cause. The latest deaths move the overall victim count closer to 300 after more than 10 days of Israeli air strikes and Hamas rockets fired toward Israel territory.

Nearly 60,000 Israeli soldiers have been mobilized for the latest offensive, including 18,000 reservists called up overnight, although it's unclear how many are on hold and how many are already in Gaza. On Friday morning, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the army is ready to expand its ground offensive.

The Israeli government decided to send troops into Gaza after efforts to broker a ceasefire led by the Egyptian government stalled. The offensive has forced more than 20,000 Palestinians to seek refuge in emergency shelters designated by the United Nations.

11:36 p.m. ET: Protesters against Israel's military intervention have been organized in several cities around the world. On Thursday night, thousands of protesters gathered in front of the Israeli consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, throwing stones, smashing windows and chanting "Murderer Israel, get out of Palestine."

What's Hot

More in World

What's New

What's Rising

What's Hot

Mashable
is a leading global media company that informs, inspires and entertains the digital generation. Mashable is redefining storytelling by documenting and shaping the digital revolution in a new voice, new formats and cutting-edge technologies to a uniquely dedicated audience of 42 million monthly unique visitors and 24 million social followers.